Oscar De La Huerte answered
Death Valley is one of the hottest places on earth. Temperatures can get as high as 50 degrees Centigrade. The record high reached was 57 degrees Celsius at the appropriately-named 'Furnace Creek Station' in 1913.
How hot is Death Valley? The answer is that Death Valley can get very hot indeed - which has a lot to do with the landscape.
The valley is located in a basin that drops over 280 feet below sea level, but is surrounded by a mountain range. This means that temperatures can reach over 50 degrees, with night time temperatures of around 32 degrees.
The dangers of death valley At these temperatures, it is incredibly easy to become dehydrated. It is so hot in Death Valley that your sweat evaporates before you even notice. Counter-intuitively, you have to wrap up by wearing long sleeves, trousers and a hat to minimise water loss through dehydration.
Death Valley temperature records The longest hot spell recorded in Death Valley was 49 degrees Centigrade for a continuous period of 43 days. By contrast, the coldest place in the world is Antarctica where the lowest recorded temperature was minus 71 degrees!
Despite the heat, and what is probably the most arduous environment anywhere in the world, the area has been inhabited by Native American peoples for thousand of years.
During the Californian Gold Rush in the 19th Century, thousands of people from all over the world swelled the population of Death Valley in search of gold. Some of their ghost towns still exist to this day.
How hot is Death Valley? The answer is that Death Valley can get very hot indeed - which has a lot to do with the landscape.
The valley is located in a basin that drops over 280 feet below sea level, but is surrounded by a mountain range. This means that temperatures can reach over 50 degrees, with night time temperatures of around 32 degrees.
The dangers of death valley At these temperatures, it is incredibly easy to become dehydrated. It is so hot in Death Valley that your sweat evaporates before you even notice. Counter-intuitively, you have to wrap up by wearing long sleeves, trousers and a hat to minimise water loss through dehydration.
Death Valley temperature records The longest hot spell recorded in Death Valley was 49 degrees Centigrade for a continuous period of 43 days. By contrast, the coldest place in the world is Antarctica where the lowest recorded temperature was minus 71 degrees!
Despite the heat, and what is probably the most arduous environment anywhere in the world, the area has been inhabited by Native American peoples for thousand of years.
During the Californian Gold Rush in the 19th Century, thousands of people from all over the world swelled the population of Death Valley in search of gold. Some of their ghost towns still exist to this day.
